Evidence Of Cataclysmic Climate Change And Environmental .

Evidence of cataclysmic climate change and environmental collapse are all around us, wherever youlook: the raging fires and recurring storms, poisoned water and filthy air, droughts and floods ofBiblical proportion, climbing rates of extinction, stressed-out birds and fading bees, frazzled fish andmisshapen frogs. It takes some bizarre combination of self-interest, privilege, cynicism, ideology,corruption, dogma, or chutzpah for supine politicians to lie passively on their backs denying the factsin favor of cloud-cuckoo-land fantasies and the interests of the filthy extractors and the billionairebarbarians from ExxonMobil, Monsanto, and Chevron. Seriously engaging the environmentalcatastrophe, which this important collection edited by Mitchel Cohen does brilliantly, and taking thenecessary steps to solve it, will mean – I’ll spit it out – overthrowing capitalism. This is the realchoice in front of us: the end of capitalism or the end of the habitable earth, saving the system ofcorporate finance capital or saving the system that gives us life. Which will it be?—Bill Ayers, author of Demand the Impossible!Pesticides not only wreak havoc with our health, they accelerate global warming by destroyingcarbon-fixing soil ecosystems. They are the linchpin of the chemicalized capitalist agriculture thatmust be pulled out if we are to make the transition to organic agroecologies that draw carbon out ofthe atmosphere and into the biosphere in restored soil ecosystems. Read this collection to armyourself with knowledge for the fight to ban pesticides and build a sustainable and climate-friendlyagriculture.—Howie Hawkins, three-time Green Party candidate for Governor of New YorkIn this age of corporate greed and its effects on the environment, this book provides a valuablecritique of corporate environmental destruction as well as suggestions for a way out of this globaldestruction.—Irene Javors, author of Culture Notes: Essays on Sane Living and advocate foroptimal living www.ijavorsoptimalliving.comThis book reveals the triumph of the collective scholarship, humanity, and humor over the hubris ofthe mammoth pesticide-chemical industry aligned with insensitive bureaucrats.—Joel R Kupferman, Esq., New York Environmental Law & Justice Project, co-Chairof National Lawyers Guild - Environmental Justice Committee, and co-counsel to the NoSpray Coalition in its victorious lawsuit against New York City’s spraying of toxicpesticides.Our poor planet is being attacked on so many sides by so many issues that it has become increasinglydifficult to give any one of them the attention they deserve. This is especially true of the spread ofpesticides, to which most of its victims are blind until it’s too late. Mitchel Cohen has broughttogether a collection of powerful essays on this subject—including several excellent ones by him—that has just the right combination of the most important facts, scholarly analysis, outrage (not to be

neglected), and other solutions to the problems that pesticides are supposed to address The FightAgainst Monsanto’s Round up: The Politics of Pesticides makes a major breakthrough in this lifeand death discussion. Highly Recommended!—Bertell Ollman, Professor of Politics, New York University, author of Alienation:Marx’s Concept of Man in Capitalist Society, Dialectical Investigations, and Dance ofthe DialecticIf you care about the planet, what you eat, your health and our whole, fragile ecosystem, then thisbook is for you. It’s jam-packed with up-to-date information about pesticides, politics, protest. andthe monster known as Monsanto. All of the contributors write with style, savvy, and with a sense ofhumor, too. Each author carves out his or her own part of the big picture. Together they’ve created abook that’s greater than its individual parts, and that will help organizers and activists who want aplanet that’s free of poisons and lies.—Jonah Raskin is the author of 16 books, including The Mythology of Imperialism,plus biographies of Jack London, Allen Ginsberg and Abbie Hoffman.This is a superb collection of essays on pesticides by a superb collection of independent experts.Importantly, they’re not only highly knowledgeable about how pesticides kill but fully understand thepolitics and economics of the pesticide push over the many years. They are fully aware, too, of thesafe, green alternatives - in harmony with nature - to these deadly poisons. Moreover, the work isedited and many of the essays written by a brilliant Green and social activist, Mitchel Cohen. I haveknown Mitch for more than 50 years—starting with my covering him as a reporter when at StonyBrook University he led student protests against the Vietnam War and other outrages. Carefully doneand comprehensive, this book is in the great tradition of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring. It is anessential learning and teaching tool.—Karl Grossman, professor of journalism at the State University of New York/Collegeat Old Westbury, author of The Poison Conspiracy, and host of “Enviro Close-Up withKarl Grossman.”I’ve known Mitchel Cohen, the editor of this remarkable volume, for over 30 years. Mitchel isbrilliant, a dedicated activist, and deeply involved in opposing the mass use of pesticides since 1999and the politics that promote it at the expense of human health and the environment. In The FightAgainst Monsanto’s Roundup: The Politics of Pesticides, Mitchel informs and guides us.—Elizabeth Liberty is a poet, feminist writer, and former Executive Director of theEuropean branch of International P.E.N.In an era when Monsanto seeks to poison the earth with its pesticide Roundup, Mitchel Cohen hasdone his own round up, assembling an amazing array of scientists, journalists, and activists tostrategically fight back with the truth. There’s no better place to learn about and join that fight thanwith The Fight Against Monsanto’s Roundup: The Politics of Pesticides.The movement against the routinized use of poisons in agriculture has taken on global

proportions. This book examines how activists around the world are now fighting back againstMonsanto, the manufacturer of the best-selling, cancer-causing pesticide glyphosate, better known as“Roundup.” The new book, edited by longtime Green activist Mitchel Cohen, explores not only thescientific dangers of glyphosate, but the nitty-gritty of the grassroots movements organizing to ban it.The book’s contributing scientists and activists detail how corporations such as Monsanto,Bayer, Dow and DuPont scuttle attempts to regulate the pesticides they manufacture. Moreover, in anage where banned pesticides are simply replaced with newer and more deadly ones, the book alsoexplores the best strategy to win the struggle for healthy foods and a clean environment.—Jack Shalom, an educator in the New York City public school system for over 25years, has worked with Brooklynites Against Apartheid, Brooklyn For Peace, and theNew Sanctuary Coalition, and produces segments for WBAI radio in New York City.Mitchel Cohen, author, poet and activist is a force of nature. For decades he has tilted against thepurveyors of poison who profit from the conversion of our complex, diverse, and interdependentbiosphere into sterile, unsustainable monoculture. In his new book, Cohen, and the dozen or so otherauthors who round out this anthology, share insights as to how we got into the mess we’re in, andwise guidance as to how we might challenge the poison-laden paradigm Monsanto and company arefoisting upon us.—Mark Haim is Director of Mid-Missouri Peaceworks and has been active aroundpeace, justice, sustainability and climate concerns for many decades.The catchphrase is disaster capitalism, but we all know capitalism IS the disaster! No one makes thispoint more eloquently than Mitchel Cohen. No topic exposes this truth more clearly than thedestruction of the environment. 99% of human history has been spent without this toxic system .wecan’t allow the 1% to control a minute more of our future.—Margaret Stevens, Antiwar veteran of US Army Nat’l Guard, teacher in Newark, NJ,and author of Red International, Black Caribbean: Communist Organizations in NewYork, Mexico and the West Indies, 1919 to 1939.This volume is a “must read” for anyone who cares about life on this planet. It is a remarkablecollection, providing both breadth and depth of understanding of not only the current state of theenvironment and protecting it but also the cast of characters who seem bent on destroying it to servetheir drive for greater profits. You won’t be able to put it down.–Marilyn Vogt-Downey is a journalist and Russian translator, who translated theWritings of Leon Trotsky series and Notebooks for the Grandchildren.The Fight Against Monsanto’s Roundup: The Politics of Pesticides examines Monsanto’s historyand misuse of science, as well as our relationship to nature. It picks up from where Rachel Carsonleft off in her deep concern about the devastating effects of chemical pollution for all of us.—Marilyn Berkon is a retired NYC high school English teacher, whose major interestis in Greek classical literature.

Mitchel Cohen is one of the most dedicated, brilliant activists that I have ever had the pleasure andhonor to work with over the years, and The Fight Against Monsanto’s Roundup: The Politics ofPesticides is a passionate and highly informative treatise for protecting public health and theenvironment.—Aton Edwards, Executive Director of the International Preparedness Network, winnerof the Grio 2012 100 history maker award, Today Show, MSNBC contributor, author,environmental & social activist.With levity, poetry, art, and a solid lineup of informed and dedicated contributors, Mitchel Cohenbrings to our attention the uncomfortable reality of today’s silent spring: the invisible persistent killerpesticide, Glyphosate. Read, learn, and enjoy Cohen’s creative efforts to tell us what we need toknow. An informed citizen is our best defense against the chemical vultures of our time.–Linda Zises, Co-founder and president of Women in City Government United

Copyright 2019 by Mitchel CohenAll rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without the express written consent of the publisher, except inthe case of brief excerpts in critical reviews or articles. All inquiries should be addressed to Skyhorse Publishing, 307 West 36th Street,11th Floor, New York, NY 10018.Skyhorse Publishing books may be purchased in bulk at special discounts for sales promotion, corporate gifts, fund-raising, or educationalpurposes. Special editions can also be created to specifications. For details, contact the Special Sales Department, Skyhorse Publishing,307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018 or info@skyhorsepublishing.com.Skyhorse Publishing is an imprint of Skyhorse Publishing, Inc. , a Delaware corporation.Visit our website at www.skyhorsepublishing.com.10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.Cover design by Brian PetersonPrint ISBN: 978-1-5107-3513-2Ebook ISBN: 978-1-5107-3514-9Printed in the United States of America

This book is dedicated toAllan Sicignano, chiropractor extraordinaireandLawrence Gamble, acupuncturistandCathryn Swan, aromatherapywho each generously gave of their time and expertise to help my brain and body heal from serioushealth issues during the time I was writing this bookandMalika Moro-Cohenwhose very existence is something of an ongoing miracleIn memory of Steve Tvedten (1942-2018), former pesticides applicator who became a heroic antipesticides activistandJoel Kovel (1936-2018), former psychiatrist who turned against the abuses of psychiatry, became afounder of Ecosocialism, and supported the No Spray Coalition and anti-pesticides efforts across thecountry.